ENG-1994 — Page 62

CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION

As an interim measure, the government announced in July 1993 that overseas agreement officers who were permanent residents of Hong Kong could apply for transfer to local conditions of service if they met certain criteria. However, the Public Officers (Variation of Conditions of Service) (Temporary Provisions) Ordinance, introduced into the Legislative Council as a private member's bill, suspended the interim measure until April 1994, despite opposition by the government. The ordinance was later extended until July.

After extensive consultations with staff associations and the Legislative Council, the government announced a set of modified arrangements for transfer to local conditions of service. The gist of the arrangements is that if an applicant for transfer is found to be replaceable by an officer on local terms, he has to transfer at one rank below his existing one, but he will receive the personal salary and benefits of his original rank on local conditions of service. In this way, the local replacement could be promoted to fill the vacancy left by the transferee. The purpose of the arrangement is to allow overseas agreement officers to stay in the service and transfer to local conditions with the same take- home pay as before, while local officers' reasonable aspirations under the longstanding localisation policy are addressed. The modified arrangements strike a balance between the interests of local and overseas staff.

As a related development, the government considered the possibility of opening up the positions occupied by agreement officers (overseas and local alike) when their agreements expire. Under its proposal, the incumbent officer occupying a promotion rank will have to compete with officers one rank below for the job and the most suitable officer will be appointed. After consulting departments and the Senior Civil Service Council, the government decided to introduce the arrangement in December 1994 in respect of agreements expiring on or after September 1, 1995.

For the long term, the government has proposed bringing in a uniform set of terms of appointment and conditions of service for all staff, and defining for the first time who should in future be regarded as 'local'. The objective is to converge with the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region while complying with existing laws. A wide-ranging consultation exercise has been conducted. In view of the overwhelming support for the concept of uniform terms and conditions of service, the direction of the proposals has been reaffirmed. Some of the detailed proposals have been modified in response to comments received. As the proposals will have implications on the civil service after 1997, they have been passed on to the Chinese side of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group for discussion.

The government has given a commitment that all senior posts equivalent to the future 'principal officials' of the Special Administrative Region Government will be filled by local officers who are potentially qualified under the Basic Law in good time before 1997. To achieve this, it will be necessary to compulsorily retire, or supersede for promotion, a number of senior overseas officers under the Limited Compensation Scheme. Particular care and attention is being paid to the selection and grooming of senior government officials.

Public Sector Reform

Public sector reform is a programme of financial and management reforms, aimed at bringing about long-term improvements to the efficiency and management of the public

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